Book Review: "Troublemaker" by Leah Remini

Book Review: Leah Remini Troublemaker

Leah Remini's autobiography interweaves the events of her life with her exposé of the problems with the "Church" of Scientology. That's because almost her entire life revolved around Scientology, as it does with many of its members. Like other cult religions, members spend an inordinate amount of time (and in the case of Scientology, money) devoted to being "good" members.

In her TV series on A&E she interviews past members about the abuses of the church: bleeding members' financial resources, forcing families to "disconnect" from members who left the church, punishment for "crimes" (including beatings). This is an important exposé because these things are common to so many extreme religions. I can imagine relatives of people involved with Jehovah's Witnesses, Mormons, or Independent Funadamentalist Baptists watching her show and thinking "wow, that's like my brother's church!"

In the book, she tells mainly her own story, which is a whopper. She joined the church as a child and experienced several different aspects of the church. She began her "studies" in Scientology in middle school, commuting from Bensonhurst in Brooklyn to the Times Square building where she would meet up with her mother. This was in the 1980s, when Times Square was not a nice place for little girls. Soon, her mother took her and her sister to Clearwater, Florida, where the kids were put to work cleaning a Scientology hotel. Children of members lived in motel rooms converted to dorms, and babies spent their days in a collective nursery. Kids were not properly cared for . At. All.

Takeaway #1: Scientology does not believe in the connection between family members -- all humans are supposedly "spiritual beings" who are equal to each other, including children and babies, whose needs are not special.

She & her sister joined "Sea Org" as a way out of their circumstance, and they flunked out. L. Ron Hubbard disapproved of sex before marriage, and the definition of "sex" was rather wide. They were rather innocent teens but told they were sluts. The family moved to Los Angeles after that, and Leah was determined to help her family by becoming an actress (her lifelong dream anyway). Meanwhile, she & her sister worked at whatever jobs they could find despite not being old enough to work. The Scientology network in the area helped them find jobs, but the cost of being a member was a constant strain for them. Fees were the same for everyone - no 10% tithing for them! And being equal to adults, they didn't have to go to school and their mother didn't punish them as most parents would. She used Scientology on them.

Remini describes some of the training she received, some of which seems to have some psychological validity -- for example, learning to keep your cool while being baited by your trainer. There is also a rating scale for emotionality, with "low" or negative numbers on one end and "high" positive emotions on the other. I can see how this could be a handy concept in life, too. People around us can influence our moods, and thinking about that in our interactions is potentially a good thing. It's easy to see how you can feel like you're getting something for your money, at least in the beginning.

Takeaway #2: Scientology offers members a sense of community and mutual support, while giving them a few psychological tools. The downside is that these things also give them a sense of superiority to outsiders, which cements their relationship to the church.

As Remini started having some success in Hollywood, she also continued in Scientology, but she tried to avoid discussing it during her work life. The culmination of her career was a 9-year run co-starring in the sitcom, "King of Queens." Now she had two sources of community and friendship: her church and her sitcom family. She also got entré into the Scientology Celebrity Centre in Los Angeles. She continued her "training" after work and during breaks, and rubbed elbows with Tom Cruise and the other celebs. As a celeb she was pressured to donate more and participate more. And she also witnessed more. My personal opinion is that her coworkers on "King of Queens" gave her an alternate universe that helped her see the crazy of Scientology for what it was. She also seemed to have a fighting spirit that was impervious to Scientology's "tech."

As a true believer, she was disturbed by what she saw. Members were supposed to tattle on each other whenver they saw someone committing a "crime," i.e. not being a perfect Scientologist, and she took her responsibility seriously. She and her husband went to Tom Cruise's famous wedding in Italy, her friends J-Lo and Marc Anthony along for the ride. Absent from the wedding party was Miscavige's wife, Shelly, whom Remini considers a friend. The wedding guests also included married people who were cheating with each other, and caregivers for Suri who were clueless about caring for a baby. (Remini doesn't mention the cognitive dissonance of a baby being born out of wedlock to people who weren't supposed to be having sex outside of marriage)

Leah reported on the misdeeds of the higher-ups, including Cruise and post-LRH leader David Miscavige. She honestly believed the church would care about and fix the situation (with more training at the miscreants' expense). Instead, she was punished and this became the biggest wedge between her and her religion. After the famouse Cruise divorce, she tried to clear her record (and get her money back), and she got no satisfaction. She asked why the regular members had to pay for retraining when there had been a report on them, but the people at the top didn't. She also got no satisfactory answers to her questions about Shelly MIscavige's whereabouts. That didn't stop her from trying, and it led to her separation from the church.

Takeaway #3: You can take the girl out of Bensonhurst but you can't take the Bensonhurst out of the girl... which is a very, very good thing.

As she was getting the runaround, she looked -- for the first time -- for former members' stories on the internet and in person. This got her into even more trouble. One was Mike Rinder, who accompanies her on the show. She was now "disaffected" -- unhappy with the church -- and her friends were being told to help straighten her out. As things got worse, her friends started disconnecting from her, too. Eventually she decided she'd had enough, and took a step that would get her labeled as a "suppressive person:" She filed a missing person report on Shelly Miscavige with the LAPD. I had heard about this, but hadn't connected Remini with it. I have even more respect for her now that I know this.

Takeaway #4: Scientology punishes dissenters, and even has a facility near Hemet, California, that is like a prison.

After coming out as being out, Remini decided to speak up for those who can't. Fortunately for her, she had friends outside the church (though she lost dozens of friendships by leaving the church), and her family left too.

Takeaway #5: Belonging to a religion doesn't make you a better person in any way if people who don't belong to a religion can be better friends, colleagues, and family.

　

　

　

Religious Parents Neglect a Child to Death... Again...

Washington Post: Minn. Parents Let Son (7) Suffer wounds, inflamed Pancreas, With No Medical Attention Before He Died, Police Say

The parents had “issues with going to doctors”, they told authorities, and instead relied on their own research, giving the boy vitamins, “medical honey” and Neosporin, adding later that they “prayed” for the boy’s health.

Incredibly, this is a misdemeanor!

In a statement, Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman said the office initially approached the case as a homicide, given the boy’s physical injuries and apparent emotional trauma. But after a year of reviewing the evidence and medical information, investigators could not link the parents’ alleged actions — or alleged lack of actions — to Seth’s pancreatitis and death. As a result, Freeman said, prosecutors imposed the most serious charge the law allows, the gross misdemeanor charge of neglect of a child resulting in substantial physical harm.

To add insult to (fatal) injury, they started a crowdfunding page and bragged about what great parents they were. It's offline now but the WaPo quotes:

After their son’s death, the Johnsons created a crowdfunding page on Youcaring.com, raising $7,000 to “ease the financial burdens” of funeral expenses and leave from work, so that “Tim and Sarah can focus on getting their family through this difficult time.” Their son, they wrote, died unexpectedly in their home.

On the fundraising page, which has since closed, the Johnsons wrote that Seth “was a very quiet and hurting little boy” when he joined their family.

“His family embraced him completely and loved him unconditionally, and slowly began to see growth and change,” they wrote.

His parents “taught him about God’s love,” they added. “What it meant to be loved. What it meant to give love.”

It took over a year for authorities to figure out what happened and what to do about it.  If there really were a god, he would have smote these pigs by now!   Fortunately no other children died in their care in the meantime.

A lot of prisoners are parents who truly love their kids and regret not being better parents to them.  Instead of beating themselves up, they will have better targets now.... assuming the authorities have the kahonas to imprison them.

Scientology is Taking a Beating

Actress Leah Remini, a former Scientologist, has taken up the fight against the destructive cult/business in an 8-part television series called Scientology: The Aftermath on A&E.  Recently, she did a reddit AMA and she will answer more questions from reddit tomorrow on A&E.

Three episodes have aired so far (Tuesdays, 10 p.m. EST).   The episodes center on former Scientologists and the impact their devotion had on themselves and others.  It becomes apparent that the "religion" is big business, costing members about $250,000 to achieve the highest level, and that anything short of total devotion is severely punished.  Remini interviews people who perpetuated the abuse and suffered from it.


And over on Discovery - ID, a network that focuses on murder stories, the "Deadly Devotions" series reran an episode that documented the role of Scientology in the murder of devout believer Elli Perkins.   Perkins refused to allow her schizophrenic son to be treated by an actual psychiatrist and instead took him to a Scientologist "psychiatrist" who prescribed vitamins.   Her son's delusions eventually caused him to kill his own mother.

Naturally, Scientology denies all claims of malfeasance and insists that ex-members are disgruntled whiners & opportunists.  If you've ever known someone with a severe mental illness, their anti-psychiatry stance alone should remove all doubt about it being dangerous.   Check out the show if you haven't already.

Twelve Questions in Genesis

Some Questions about the Creation Story as told in Genesis:

1. How could there be days before the Sun was made?  (Gen 1:3 vs. Gen 1:14-18)
2. How could there be plants before there were night and day?  (Gen. 1:11-16)
3. God made the Sun, the Moon and the Stars but not planets?  Where are the planets?  (Gen 1:14-19)
4. If God is all-powerful why did he need a day of rest?  (Gen 2:2)
5. Why aren't microscopic plants and animals mentioned?
6. Why did God make livestock and then tell Adam & Eve to eat only plants?  (Gen 1:24; Gen 1:29)
7. Why does Chapter 2 have a different version from Chapter 1?  Were there plants before Man was made or not?  And why was it a problem that there were no crops yet when they already had all they could eat in the Garden?  (Gen 2:5)
8. If Adam was not alive until God breathed the breath of life into his nostrils, does that mean that a fetus is not alive until it takes its first breath? (Gen 2:7)
   
9. If Eve didn't know about good & evil before eating from the tree of good & evil, then how could she be punished for committing evil?  (Gen 3:4)
10. If God is a spirit, how did Adam & Eve hear him clomping around the Garden of Eden?  (Gen 3:8)
11. If the serpent was already a serpent, then why did God curse it to crawl on its belly?  Didn't it already do that?  (Gen: 3:14)
12. If there is only one god, then why did he say, “The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever." (Gen 3:22)

Eugenie Scott profiled in the New York Times

She's a true hero in the battle for science education.  Kudos to the New York Times for calling attention to her life and work:

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/03/science/eugenie-c-scott-fights-the-teaching-of-creationism-in-schools.html?pagewanted=1&tntemail0=y&_r=2&emc=edit_tnt_20130902&

And they also profiled high school students who defended science education.

August 31 Link Round-Up

Kitten in a Cup for to Cheer you Up

The myth of the teenaged temptress.  "It doesn't matter if a young girl is saying yes, it's an adult man's job to say no."  (Blog post in response to the judge who gave a teacher a slap on the wrist in a rape case involving a 14-year-old student who subsequently committed suicide.  The judge basically blamed the victim in his statement)

Employers are not accommodating diverse religions, but evangelicals have no problem expressing themselves at work, unlike others.  Wow.  Surprise.

A new film, God Loves Uganda, documents the rise of evangelical Christianity.

A new book, The Story of the Jews, is really many stories of many Jews, killed during the Middle Ages in Europe for various trumped-up reasons. 

A study of almost 190,000 people shows that religious people are happier when they are poor.  Is it wrong to then have Schadenfreude over the misery that Joel Osteen must be suffering?

Dolphins are dying from a measles-like virus.  Other related viruses have affected dogs and cattle, and vaccines are effective in preventing those diseases.  Vaccinating dolphins could be rather difficult, though!

A shark that walks along the ocean floor has been discovered in Indonesia.  

Another superheavy man-made element makes it onto the Periodic Table.  More for high school students to memorize!

People who watch / listen to conservative media are more likely to distrust science and to deny global warming.  Someone got paid to figure that out!

Book of the week:  Breaking their Will: Shedding Light on Religious Child Maltreatment.   A friend recently read this and said it's chilling.  I'm not sure I have the stomach for it but I'll pass along the info here.

Science video of the week:  Sign the petition to name hurricanes after climate-denying lawmakers:

http://www.upworthy.com/this-is-probably-the-funniest-most-effective-way-to-deal-with-people-who-ignore-science-facts-ever-2

August 24 Link Round-up

Rationalist assassinated in India. Wow. Just. Wow.

Anti-vaxxer Texas megachurch surprises nobody with measles outbreak.  Another example of child abuse in the name of religion!

Westboro Baptist Church gets another smack-down from another legal venue.  It seems protests at funerals offend just about everybody everywhere.

God tries to smite the creation museum with lightning, misses, only injures one person.

Fundamentalist muslim in Australia says "Kill all Buddhists and Hindus."  Religion of peace.  yeah.

Religion rakes in $82 billion per year.  Well, if tax subsidies count.  I chose the wrong profession!

Video of the Week: Minute Physics on Science, Religion, and the "Big Bang":



Video of the Week 2: 25 Strangest Geological Formations on Earth: